Poor Integration of XUMUC - Term Paper Example

Expanding a network can be very challenging for any organization if proper and effective measures are not put in place. During the expansion, the organization has to decide whether to change the whole networking structure or continue with the previous addressing structure. Due to the networking challenges that XUMUC has and their need for change in the networking addressing to reduce the high administrative overhead and to enable the network to work efficiently, the networking structure has to be changed in this case (Plekta, 2000). To reduce high administration overhead, a client-server network is necessary. This will ensure that there is only one administrator who can control the whole network as the other clients use the network. Since this is a wide area network, ach branch of XUMUC has to have one router which is connected to the different switches in the area that connects the computers in a topology that supports the client-server relationship (Collins, 2003).

The link of the WAN can be made by an optic fiber or a good wireless link. Since static IP addressing comes with a high administrative overhead, dynamic addressing is the best type of networking that can be effectively used in this case. In the dynamic addressing, each time a client boots, a discover message from the DHCP is automatically sent. An offer message is an answer that it receives for it to move on. In this type of IP addressing, the client automatically chooses their network without the approval of the admin.

Dynamic addressing has several advantages as opposed to static addressing. First of all, the client gets to set their address automatically without having administration privileges (Graham, 2001). This, therefore, reduces the high administration overhead that is currently present in the organization. The other major advantage is that whenever a client logs in from a different location, the client is directly assigned a new IP address and can be able to access the network without any problem. However, if the client returns to the previous location, then they are not able to find the previous IP address which they were using.

IP addressing table

Location

Number of IP addresses required

Address block assigned

Gateway

San Francisco

1290

172.16.0.0-172.16.7.255/21

157.55.27.90

Denver region

504

127.0.0.1

Denver Campus

441

Remote office 1

28

Remote office 2

35

Houston Region

350

157.55.27.90

Houston Campus

329

Remote office 3

21

The table above represents the general IP addressing table that has been proposed for the three branches of the organization. It is however important that the network be able to accommodate changes such that whenever new users get to the system, they can get new IP addresses that are completely different from the ones in use. The number of IP addresses assigned in each location has to therefore keep shifting depending on the number of users that the organization has at any given point. This ensures that the network not only functions efficiently but also can accommodate as many users without administrative privileges.

Conclusion

Poor integration is a very difficult task to reverse. Due to this, XUMUC has to cover a lot of expenses to allow the shifting. Dynamic addressing is very convenient in this type of network since the organization does need a higher administration overhead to assign IP addresses. However, in terms of getting a secure network, the best addressing scheme would have to be static. This is because, in this addressing scheme, the admin has to approve every assigned IP address unlike in the dynamic case. During the shift, the whole staff and users have to be educated and informed on how the changes will take place and some of the benefits of the new changes. They also have to know that their current IP addresses will not be valid and that they have to change to their new address.